How we check a page

Last updated 2026-09-25 · By Smart Pick Desk editors

A comparison is only as good as its facts. This page describes, step by step, how the facts on this site are collected and checked, so you can judge the pages yourself — and so you know which questions they cannot answer.

1. We read the official page, and keep a copy

For every product we write about, we open the company's own pricing page (and, where it matters, its FAQ and terms) in a browser. We save the text of the page exactly as it was shown, with the date. We do not pass it through a summarising tool first, because a summary can change a word, and a word can change a limit.

If a page does not show something when we read it, we say so rather than fill the gap from memory or from another site. For example, when we read Brevo's pricing page on 2026-09-21, its free plan card did not show its limits, so Brevo is not in our free plan table and the page explains why.

2. We record every price step

Most email tools price by list size, with a slider. We move the slider through every step it offers and record the price at each one, with the billing switch in both positions. That record is the only source of prices on the site. If a list size is not a step on a company's slider, we do not invent a price for it; where we have to use a nearby step, the page says which one.

3. We draw the charts ourselves

Every chart and diagram on the site is drawn by a script that reads the same record. No one types a number into a chart by hand. There are no screenshots of the products on this site, because we have not used them (see step 7).

4. Scripts check the page before it goes up

Before a page is published, it is run through these checks:

• Quotes. Every phrase in quotation marks must appear, word for word, in the saved copy of the official page. A short list of phrases that are our own wording (such as a question we ask the reader) is kept separately, each with a reason, and the list is reported in full on every run.
• Prices. Every dollar figure must come from the price record. Where a table names the lower price, the script recomputes it and checks that the name is right.
• Dates. A page may only say it checked something on a date when we actually read that page.
• Links and images. Every internal link and image must exist.
• Disclosure. If a page carries an affiliate link, the page must say so at the top, and the link must be marked (paid ad) right next to it.

A check that cannot run is reported as a failure, not as a pass.

5. We re-check

Prices change, so pages are re-read. On 2026-09-23 we re-opened the pricing pages of Kit, MailerLite and beehiiv and compared their default view with our record; the prices were the same. Each page's change log shows when it was last checked and what we plan to check next.

6. When a company's page disagrees with itself

Sometimes the plan card, the comparison table and the FAQ on the same pricing page give different answers. When that happens we show both, say which one our figures use, and do not guess which is right. The Systeme.io pricing page has three examples.

7. What we do not test

We have not used the products we compare. So we do not describe how an editor feels, how well emails reach the inbox, how quickly support replies or what results anyone gets. We do not publish star ratings, and we do not quote third-party review scores we could not read ourselves. Where those questions matter, the page says so and points to what the official page does state.

8. How we correct mistakes

If you find a line that does not match the official page, email [email protected] with the page and the line. We re-open the official page, fix what is wrong and add a dated entry to the page's change log. Corrections we have made so far are visible in those logs.

9. Affiliate links

Some pages may contain affiliate links; they are listed on the Affiliate Disclosure. A commission does not change the quotes, prices or dates on a page, because those come from the steps above. See also the editors and About.